What's Love Got to Do with It?
Like many others, I was horrified a couple weeks ago to hear about another synagogue shooting in the US. Anti-Semitism is an age-old evil, but it particularly stuns when you see it so flagrantly acted out. This time the heinous act was perpetrated on the last day of Passover, a celebration of freedom. I will never understand this kind of hate.
What really stuck in my heart about this one is the fact that the alleged gunman is a 19-year-old who considers himself an evangelical Christian. In his manifesto, he wrote, "I did not choose to be a Christian. The Father chose me. The son saved me. And the Spirit keeps me." This sends chills up my spine. How could he believe that and then pick up a gun to murder innocent people? Well, it's not the first time self-described Christians have committed great acts of evil. Sadly, it probably won't be the last. But how did this young man and so many others throughout history get so far off course? How did their hearts become bent toward darkness?
An article in the May 2 issue of RELEVANT Magazine hit me like a lightning bolt. Here's the headline: Alleged Synagogue Shooter Proclaims Christianity, Evangelical Pastors struggle to Understand. It talks about the gunman's "well-educated background in the Presbyterian church" and how anti-Semitism has "no place within our system of doctrine."
Friends, we can sit around and debate ad nauseam the cause of this man's hatred. We can complicate the issue as much as we like, but to me it's simple. What was missing from this man's theological instruction was the substance of love. And I don't just mean knowing Bible verses about love. Head knowledge is not the same as heart understanding. Love is a substance that must be received by the heart.
Teaching and instruction are useful, but they become hollow when they are not connected to genuine love. Without love, any sort of spiritual teaching, no matter how logical or wise, becomes nothing more than a clanging gong. There's a good reason why the Apostle Paul warns us about this in 1 Corinthians 13.
My heart aches for the gunman's family. I can't imagine the pain his parents are experiencing, and it is simply wrong for anyone to cast judgment in that direction. But as a Christian, I feel compelled to say that the Church bears some responsibility.
We have failed to impart love to our young people. We have failed to impart love to those who feel marginalized. We have failed to impart love. Period.
When the Body of Christ is rent by theological discord and passionate disagreement, we often retrench into our doctrine. We assume that anything that goes wrong is related to a lack of good Biblical preaching and teaching. Sure, doctrine matters. But this is rarely the core issue. We need to be cultivating an environment in our churches where love is given and received. The Body of Christ must be a place where hearts are healed and restored. If hate is growing and thriving in our midst, something is desperately broken. We need to look at ourselves and ask these essential questions: How can we/I love better? What is missing from my own heart?
So where can we find love in this tragic event? Jesus said, Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends (John 15:13). On April 27 at Chabad of Poway Synagogue, Lori Gilbert Kaye did just that. She threw herself in front of a bullet to save her rabbi. She gave her life without hesitation. In that selfless act she became love. May we learn from her example.
